Ross Buys Magritte; Acquavella, Picasso

Wisdom from The Master, Judd Tully, imbues the report from Christie’s London Impressionist and Modern art evening sale

Picasso’s “Femme assise” from 1949 grabbed the top lot, selling toWilliam Acquavella of New York’s Acquavella Galleries for £8,553,250 ($13,445,709), well above its £5-7 million estimate. The 1949 Picasso last sold at auction at New York’s Parke-Bernet Galleries, a forerunner of Sotheby’s, for £37,000 in 1960. Asked about the evening, Acquavella succinctly observed, “good things do better and other things have a tough time.”

Late Magrittes typically outperform the tougher and darker early paintings but as David Rogath, a Magritte collector and art dealer from Greenwich, Connecticut, observed, “I think the prices are justified and in a short period of time will go much higher. Magritte is still undervalued.”

Scott Reyburn has his share of sharp observations too:

Art collector Ross, seated in the front of the saleroom, was asked by Bloomberg News what he thought of the price, the second highest given for the Belgian Surrealist. [£7,209,250 ($11,332,941), over four times its £1.5m high estimate] “Well, I paid it,” said Ross